Out of Africa follows the life story of Karen Blixen, an amazingly strong-willed woman who moves from Denmark to run a coffee plantation with her philandering husband in Kenya around 1914. To her astonishment she soon discovers herself falling in love with the land, its people and a mysterious British adventurer and idealist.
Karen Blixen is the daughter of a wealthy Danish family. When Hans, the man she expects to marry is no longer interested in her, she proposes to his twin brother Bror, both for his friendship and for the title of Baroness, and since she has money he agrees. It is decided they will buy land in Kenya and start a dairy farm. Karen follows Bror out to Kenya where they marry and take up residence but she then finds that her husband has decided on his own to grow coffee instead, even though the land they have purchased is considered too high to support this crop.
When the First World War breaks out and most of the men go south to Lake Natron, Karen leads a long and dangerous supply run to them herself. Learning much about survival, resourcefulness and leadership, she also gains the respect of the men. Her marriage, considered merely one of convenience by Bror, is put to the test when he has other relationships, eventually transmitting syphilis to Karen. After the diagnosis she leaves for Denmark, returning to the farm after a successful though lengthy period of treatment. She decides that Bror must move out for good, which he does, returning only to solicit one last sum of money from her.
Karen continues to develop the coffee plantation, enlisting the local Kukuyu to work on the farm. Eventually much of the tribe is employed by her and she provides them with some of the uncultivated land on which to live. She also builds a school and hires a missionary teacher to educate the children, despite the disapproval of both the tribal chief and many of the English settlers. As a result, she gains a greater understanding of African culture which brings a mutual respect and affection.
Eventually Bror wants to remarry and Karen consents to a divorce. Her long friendship with Denys Finch Hatton, a free-spirited big game hunter, begins to blossom as they are drawn to each other and Karen falls in love with him. He is honest and loyal but lives an independent life of adventure in the wilderness and while Karen wishes for the security of marriage, Denys tells her that he can never give up his freedom – she feels herself to be the one who must pay the price for his freedom.
The coffee plantation is still only barely surviving as she is forced to mortgage it further, but just as success is within her grasp with a first bumper crop, a fire devastates the processing buildings and the entire crop is lost. Having no insurance Karen faces bankrupcy, loses her home and land to the bank, and is forced to sell her remaining personal possessions.
A few days before she is due to leave, Denys appears and offers to fly her in his plane to Mombassa from where she will sail to Denmark. Before he returns for her he is tragically killed when the plane crashes and catches fire. She buries his body on the eastern slopes of the hills overlooking the Great Rift Valley. Her home and lover gone, her life in Africa is over and she leaves, never to return. "I once had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills."
Karen Blixen returned to Denmark and went on to write a number of books about her adventures in Africa under the pseudonym Izak Dineson.
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